Ke-vin! Ke-vin! Ke-vin!
It was almost half-past nine, and Stony Brook students were through looking at the empty golden stage. They wanted Hart.
On Jan. 31, Kevin Hart came to Stony Brook’s Staller Center. In a segment called “Let Me Explain,” Philadelphia native Kevin Hart wowed his audience with side-splitting giggles and raunchy honesty.
Hart stood short. Gray-blue jeans, gray-blue jean jacket, black t-shirt and frosty silver necklace. He talked about everything during the skit: His divorce. Crapping the bed. Terrifying horseback riding experiences. Homeless people flicking your lip. Benjamin Button disease. Deerbras (deer-zebras) that make you late for work. His son, Spiderman. And about feeling genuinely happy for the first time in a while, to the point where he took a “happy walk,” and even fed some pigeons.
Hart has appeared in “Modern Family”, “Soul Plane” and several of the “Scary Movie” films. He has done several stand-up TV specials for Comedy Central, including “I’m a Grown Little Man” and “Seriously Funny.”
There were a number of honest moments in Hart’s show.  At one point in the first quarter, Hart said simply, “Lying ruined my marriage. I cheated.” It was a moment of rare, authentic truthfulness that some members of the audience were not expecting.
Senior health science major, Marlon McLeod said, “I like the fact that he mentioned personal things about his divorce. As a comedian, I know that it’s always the personal and most painful things that draw the most humor. It’s therapy for comedians.”
McLeod is the current president of the Comedians Guild, an extracurricular club founded in April 2011 with the purpose of promoting stand up and humor on campus. Hart, he added, is one of his favorite comedians, alongside Louis C.K. and Chris Rock.
What did he, a professional comedian in-the-making, get out of the performance?
“I learned about the importance of stage presence and appreciating your audience. It is okay to talk about your personal life; more people will relate to it than you think. Vary the format of jokes so it does not become repetitive to the audience,” McLeod said.
To be fair, the show was not flawless. Parts were a bit excessive. The vulgarity was somewhat over-the-top, and parts of the “prep the audience” Do-we-have-any-seniors-in-the-crowd maneuver expired after the second or third attempt.
Sophomore sociology and health science major Natasha Bankay said, “My favorite part of the show was when Kevin talked about going horseback riding with the family.”
She added, “I didn’t mind the fact that Kevin talked about his family life and divorce.  However, I do believe that it was not an appropriate topic to joke about for an entire hour with college students.  Although it was funny, it was not something that we could say we know very much about.”
Students pre-gamed Hart’s performance with the comedic genius of Joey Wells, Will “Spank” Horton and Na’im Lynn.  The ever-entertaining habits of broke college kids were things they mentioned: soggy ramen noodles, scraping deodorant and the art of the “hanky panky”.
“I thought that his opening acts were awesome.  The guys were hilarious and they talked about a lot of things that we, as college students, can relate to,” Bankay said.
These gentlemen used more “college humor” in their skits. Seniors that just don’t care, cat lady hoarders, lousy roommates and the secret thrills of lambskin condoms made the cut.
“Alcohol should be called confidence.”
“Ladies are just mean. If a dude comes up to them while they’re dancing, they’re all like, ‘He’s uuuuuuuuuugly. Let’s go to the bathroom.'” (Which, let’s face it ladies, we’ve all done that at least once before.)
“The only thing black men like more than a woman with ass, is a white woman with ass.”
It is safe to say that quite a large number of students had their cheeks and stomachs hurt from laughter.
USG Vice President of Communications Stephanie Berlin  added, “He was hysterical. I thought it was money very well spent.” Though she could nor tell The Statesman which performers students should expect in the future, she ensured they would we welcomed with open arms.